Juan Ponce de Leon Essay

Juan Ponce de Leon

Juan Ponce de Leon was born in the village of Terra de Campos Palencia in Spain. He was descended from the Spanish royal family. As a boy he was a page in the royal court of Aragon, he became well educated in astronomy, physics, geometry, mathematics, astronomy, and several different languages. Juan was very poor so he became a solider and received fighting skills, manners, and learned more about his religion while serving a knight named Pedro Nunez de Guzman. Later he served in various military campaigns against Muslims in southern Spain for ten years until, in 1492; they were driven out of Granada. After sailings with Christopher Columbus in 1493 on his second voyage to the new world, Once Ponce de Leon remained in Santa Domingo with over twelve hundred other men. He helped colonize the land mostly by forcing the Indians into slavery.

Ponce de Leon spent most of the early 1500’s in Hispaniola, (or Santa Domingo) Establishing farms, distributing land rights, helping construct buildings to aid defense, and working to set up an island economy. He also married and fathered four children. He was named deputy governor of Hispaniola by Governor Nicolas de Ovando after helping him put down an Indian uprising in the eastern province of the island in 1504.The Indians told Ponce de Leon that he would find gold on a naboring island to the east, Called Boriquien (Porta Rico). Four years later he crossed over and conquered the island.

During the conquest he shared the honors with a famous greyhound dog named Bercerillo. In 1508 by the orders of the king he renamed the island Porta Rico and got large deposits of gold. He was governor of Porta Rico for two years then replaced by Christopher Columbus’s son. It was said that the Indians were more afraid of 10 Spaniards with the dog then one hundred Spaniards without him. Ponce de Leon was appointed governor of Porta Rico by King Ferdinand of Spain. The island became popular with other settlers...